Artist Statement

Flowers mean different things to different people .... to me they are the secret of the cosmos     Winifred Nicholson

I paint flower ‘portraits’ much as a portrait artist will paint heads and figures, and through them feel I express something fundamental about life and living. Translated into paintings the flowers become near perfect uber flowers, often enlarged to a monumental scale.

I paint a wide range of flower; cultivated varieties that exhibit great poise, character and drama like dahlias, lilies and peonies. Amaryllis are other-worldly and triffid-like. I have an ongoing daisy painting project - single daisies, daisy chains - I love their prolific humility, nostalgia and beauty.

I also paint wild Scottish flowers that have wonderful form and colour - foxglove, wild rose, buttercup , clover. I am also working on a painting series called ‘Carnal’, the Royal Botanical Gardens Edinburgh allowed me access to their carnivorous plant collection and I am creating paintings through this research exploring the darker side of plant life.

Most of my paintings are oils on canvas.

I work from my unusual studio on Platform 2 of Ladybank Railway Station in the rural Howe of Fife. This is a still functioning A-listed Victorian station on the Dundee/Edinburgh line.

After a year of applications, fundraising and hard work I created my studio rooms out of three semi-derelict boarded up rooms on the platform - they are now bright, characterful creative spaces with lots of history. I launched the studio in September 2009 with coverage from BBC and STV news,  From here I create my paintings , run painting workshops and hold occasional Open Studios and exhibitions.

I received a BA Joint Honours 2:1 in Art and Art History from Goldsmiths College, London where I studied from 1989 - 1992. Before returning to painting in 2002 I ran galleries, projects and workshops in hospitals for Artlink-Edinburgh, I was a member of The Scottish Arts Council Visual Arts Committee and a freelance Arts Education consultant.